Be My Baby
by sweeet-as-honey
Summary: Ethan really likes new receptionist Elin and her daughter, but he's sworn off relationships. Cal likes Elin too, but it's her adopted daughter who really gets his attention. Meanwhile, Lily finds getting over Iain is easier than she expected when she starts working closely with Sam Strachan, but Alicia seems intent on causing trouble. Set late 2017. No spoilers as I don't know any.
1. Chapter 1

_I'm sorry I've been neglecting my other stories. I haven't had as much time and inspiration for updating. I've been meaning to start posting this story for weeks. It's set a few months in the future and it might contradict any spoilers you might have heard. I've heard someone's going to die - I really don't want to know who - but it is likely they'll be in this story as most of the current regulars will be._

 _I hope you enjoy the story._

* * *

Cal finished his cereal and gulped down the last of his coffee, leaving the breakfast things on the table as he went to call towards the bathroom. "Ethan! Hurry up! We're going to be late!"

Ethan poked his head out of the bathroom. "I'm not going to be late," he said irritably.

Cal was inclined to doubt that. Half Ethan's hair was sticking up on end and his shirt wasn't done up properly.

"I'll be five more minutes," said Ethan, his head disappearing back into the bathroom.

Cal shook his head and didn't bother to keep his voice down as he said: "You shouldn't have stayed at the pub so late last night!"

The door opened again and a very annoyed Ethan glared at him. "I didn't go to the pub last night. I was working overtime. You know I was."

"That's not like you," said Cal, pretending to be concerned. The last thing he was going to do was tell Ethan what a relief it was to see his brother acting like his usual self again.

"It is now, Caleb," said Ethan, his eyes very serious despite the fact he was squinting. "It is now."

* * *

Elin opened the rear door of the car and climbed in beside the two-year-old. She couldn't start work without spending a few more minutes with her daughter. She didn't know how she was going to cope with being away from her for several hours. She wasn't sure they'd ever been apart for that long.

She stroked the child's blonde hair and kissed her soft pink cheek. "You're going to have a lovely day today, cariad. A lovely day," Elin said to her daughter in Welsh. She tried to blink away her tears. "And I won't be far away at all. I'll come and check on you whenever I can. But you won't miss me at all. You'll be too busy having a lovely time with all your friends…" Elin reached up to wipe a tear away and tried to smile brightly. "You'll have a great time. You'll make lots of new friends and you'll have so many new toys to play with. And remember: if they don't understand Welsh, you can speak English." Elin switched to her second language. "And so should I. We are in England now, after all."

* * *

Lily walked briskly across the car park towards the ED, keeping her gaze on the entrance.

There was no reason to look anywhere else. There was no reason why she should want to look anywhere else.

And she didn't want to - not really. The last thing she needed was to see him. But it would be easier to avoid him if she knew exactly where he was. If she knew he was safely in his own part of the building, she'd know there was no chance of coming upon him unexpectedly; of him walking out of the ED at the exact moment she was about to-

Lily couldn't restrain a gasp when he did just that.

She probably should have been relieved Iain looked as horrified as she felt, but it hurt. Even now, he had the power to hurt her.

She moved to one side to let him pass, only for Iain to move to the same side. Quickly, Lily moved to the other side, only to find Iain had moved in unison with her.

They'd seemed the perfect match once. Complete opposites, of course, but opposites often did attract.

Lily tensed as a smile appeared on Iain's face. She hated the thought he might be laughing at her; that he could be reading her mind, or at least think he was.

But she also didn't like his smile because it had such an unwelcome habit of making her smile too.

"Excuse me, Mr Dean," said Lily icily.

Iain stepped aside, but his smile had widened. "Mr Dean, is it, Dr Chao? _Mr_ Dean? Careful: you might make me feel important."

"We wouldn't want that," said Lily.

She walked quickly into the ED without looking back.

Alicia couldn't help smirking as Lily walked past her, but the registrar didn't see her, or she pretended not to. "Hey, Lily!" she called out with a big smile and a wave which she was fairly sure half the waiting room had heard, but Lily continued walking. Alicia raised her voice a bit further. "Lily!"

"Leave her," said Louise a bit uncomfortably. She seemed uncomfortable with a lot of things Alicia did lately.

Lily turned with obvious reluctance and made her way over to Alicia and Louise. "Dr Munroe., Louise. You wished to speak to me?"

Alicia considered asking Lily to talk properly, but she decided she had something more interesting to bait Lily with. She put her hand on Lily's arm and felt the registrar flinch. "I just wanted to check you were okay, Lily. I saw your little incident with Iain. I hope he didn't upset you."

Louise nodded sympathetically. "It must be so difficult, working with your ex."

"I wouldn't have said so, particularly," said Lily. "After all, there are worst things than having an ex-boyfriend who's a paramedic. For example, I could have an ex-boyfriend who's a doctor. Or even _two_ ex-boyfriends who are doctors." She looked coldly at Alicia, then turned away.

Alicia felt the barb, but she tossed her hair and tried to show the world it didn't hurt. "Keep trying, Lily!" Alicia called after her. "I'm sure you'll get to pull a doctor one day. But probably not two. You have to be pretty special to get two of them!"

* * *

Cal was wrong, as usual. Ethan wasn't late for work – not quite. He knew he'd spent a little bit longer in the bathroom than he usually would, but he'd had little choice in the matter when he'd discovered the plughole was full of Cal's hair and then he'd noticed a big puddle of Cal's hair gel (or rather Ethan's hair gel, as it had turned out to be), so he'd had to clean the bathroom floor before he could think about cleaning himself.

Ethan hadn't neglected to mention this small point to Cal when he'd finally emerged.

He walked towards reception, smiling at Noel as he passed, only to hear a thump behind him followed by a gasp of dismay. Ethan turned to see a girl with light brown hair holding a baby carrier. On the floor were two bags, one of which was spilling its contents on the waiting room floor. As Ethan watched, she shifted the carrier into her right hand and slowly started to bend down.

Ethan hurried over to her. "Please let me help you."

She looked at him in gratitude, causing a strange sensation in his chest. "You don't have to, but that would be really kind."

"It's no trouble," Ethan assured her. He glanced around the waiting room and saw an available seat. "Why don't you sit down?"

She hesitated, then smiled and did as she was told. Ethan got down onto his hands and knees and stuffed nappies, spare baby clothes and toys back into the bag. It didn't take long and soon he was carrying both bags towards their owner.

"Here you are. Nothing was broken. Would you like me to look after your daughter while you check in?"

She looked at him uncertainly.

"Oh, I'm sorry: I should have introduced myself," said Ethan. "I'm Dr Hardy. I'm one of the doctors here." _Well done, Ethan. She really couldn't have guessed that from the 'Dr Hardy' part._ "I've had all the relevant checks and I've been certified." _Certified? That's really going to reassure her._ "Certified to be safe with children, I mean."

She smiled, clearly relieved. "It's nice to meet you, Dr Hardy. I'm Elin Rhys-Jones. I'm the new receptionist."

"Oh gosh!" said Ethan. He awkwardly moved the bag in his right hand to his left so he could shake hands. "I'm Dr Hardy." He cringed. "I'm so sorry: I've already told you that. But you can call me Ethan. If you want to. Um, okay, as you're working here, I don't think you really need to check in. But you'll be fine with Noel. You're lucky Louise doesn't work on reception anymore. She was there on my first day and she made me go and wait at the back of the queue. I was terrified! But luckily, Dr Hanna arrived and then everything was all right. I'm sorry. I'm babbling. Perhaps it would be best if I was just a little bit more Cal." _And now I'm not just babbling, I'm producing nonsensical babble. I'm so glad Cal's not working today._

Elin smiled. "I don't want to cause any trouble, Ethan, but if you could point me in the direction of the crèche, that would be a really big help."

"Oh, yes. Of course!" said Ethan. "I'll show you the way." He waited for her to stand up and walked with her past the reception desk.

Elin glanced nervously towards the reception desk. "Do you think I should let Mr Garcia know I'm here first?"

"I can do that," said Ethan. "I'll show you the way, then I'll come back here and tell Noel. That's no trouble at all." They started walking. "So… um… is this your first day?" _Of course it's her first day, Ethan! If it wasn't her first day, she'd know she didn't need to be scared of Noel and she'd know where the crèche was, wouldn't she?_

"Yes, it is," said Elin, as though he hadn't asked a stupid question. "I hope I'll like it here."

"I'm sure you will," said Ethan. "We're quite busy this morning – lots of the people who get ill over the weekend wait until Monday so they can spend some of their working hours here rather than cutting into their leisure time – but they're usually relatively quiet on a Monday morning."

He winced as this statement was almost immediately disproved by some very blue language coming from the direction of the waiting room.

"Well… it's mostly relatively quiet," said Ethan.

"Don't worry," said Elin. "I'm used to noise. I have a two year old. She likes talking about her bodily functions in a loud voice too. Don't you, cariad?"

Ethan laughed and was thinking what a pretty name Cariad was when he realised they'd almost missed the turning. "Oh… it's this way. Sorry. There you are." He walked with her to the crèche entrance. "Will you be all right now? I'll go and let Noel you're here."

"Thank you so much, Ethan," said Elin gratefully. "I couldn't have managed without you."

"I was very happy to help," said Ethan. He smiled. "I'll probably see you soon. I'm afraid doctors can be very annoying. We're always writing our notes on the reception desk or asking you to move so we can use your computers."

Elin smiled. "If that's the worst I have to look forward to, I feel very reassured. I'll see you soon, Ethan. Thank you again."


	2. Chapter 2

**X-Sammii-X** , thank you for your review. I'm so happy you like the story so far. The baby isn't actually called 'cariad' - it's the Welsh for darling, but either Ethan doesn't know that or he's temporarily not thinking straight! I'm not sure how much Iain there will be in this story, but there will be lots of Cal, Ethan and Sam.

 **Bonnie Sveen Fan** , I think we've probably seen enough of the brothers falling out over a girl, so this story will be different from that, but that doesn't mean there won't be problems. Ethan is very sweet and helpful when he's being Ethan, which sadly doesn't happen often enough! Thank you for your review.

 **bronny9** , thank you for your review. I'm glad you enjoyed the first chapter.

 **Tanith Panic** , there is a comedian called Cariad Lloyd, but I suppose it might not be her real name. I suppose it's like the Welsh form of Honey! Little children can be so proud of their body functions. I find it mostly adorable. Alicia definitely hasn't done much forgiving and forgetting in this story. Thank you for your review.

 **InfinityAndOne** , thank you for your review. I'm glad you like this so far. I love it when Ethan is sweet and awkward and trying to help everyone! I'm glad you like the name Elin. I think it's very pretty. I think there are a lot of lovely Welsh names - Dylan for one, though he doesn't use the Welsh pronunciation.

 **LaughLikeTheJoker** , thank you for the review. I'm really glad you like the story and as you can see, you didn't have to wait long for an update! Welcome to Casualty fanfiction and thank you for reading and enjoying my stories. There are loads of other great writers on here too - I'll mention three of them as they reviewed the first chapter of this story: X-Sammii-X, Bonnie Sveen Fan, Tanith Panic and InfinityAndOne are four of my favourites.

 _Thank you to **Love2ReadBoooksForever,** **KuramaNaruGirl** , **InfinityAndOne** and **LaughLikeTheJoker** for the follows and favourites._

* * *

Lily out her bag in the locker and left the staff room, hoping she wouldn't be forced to share Resus with Alicia. She could understand why Alicia didn't like her. She could even understand why Alicia went out of her way to antagonise her (in between the bursts of friendliness that occurred whenever Alicia had no-one else to talk to). But it had been over a year now since Alicia's return to the ED and Lily had really hoped Alicia might have put it behind her by now.

"Hi, Lily," said a male voice as she passed the nurses' station.

To Lily's horror, her knees went a little weak. She knew that voice and she knew its effect on her, but the very last thing she wanted was to make it obvious.

Unfortunately, when you stumbled slightly in your high-heeled shoes, it was not only visible but audible.

A moment later, her arm was caught in a firm grasp. "Are you all right?"

Lily reminded herself to breathe and turned to look Sam Strachan in the eye. "I'm all right. Thank you, Mr Strachan."

"Those shoes do look pretty lethal," commented Sam.

Lily tried not to think about the fact Sam was looking at her feet. She was wearing a skirt today, so he'd be able to see her ankles too. And her lower legs.

 _What is wrong with me? Why on earth am I thinking like this? I'm not even over Iain – no, correction: I am completely over Iain, but it's still far too soon for me to be thinking of other men._

"But there's female doctors for you," said Sam, a smile coming to his lips. "Connie's exactly the same and so was Zoe Hanna."

Lily didn't point out that Elle didn't wear heels. Elle's choice of footwear was in no way relevant to Lily's job and she therefore had no interest in the matter.

In any case, her mouth had gone a bit too dry for speaking to be advisable.

 _What is wrong with me? I am as bad as Alicia. It is unprofessional to have interest in even one of my colleagues. But two?!_

Lily swallowed. "Excuse me, Mr Strachan." She nodded at him and walked away.

She thought she might have heard him to say: "You can call me Sam," but she didn't look back.

* * *

Elin walked to the side of the queue and smiled at the pony-tailed man sitting at the desk, trying to alert him to her presence without interrupting him.

He smiled. "Hi, are you Ellen? I'm Noel."

Elin smiled at him nervously. "Hi. Noel. It's pronounced Aylin – it's Welsh – but that's me, yes. I'm sorry I'm late."

"That's okay," said Noel. "Ethan said you had to get your little girl to the crèche. First mornings are always a horrible rush, aren't they?."

"They are," said Elin, smiling at her new boss in relief.

Noel glanced at the queue. "I'm afraid I'm a bit tied up here at the moment, but…" Noel's gaze moved over her shoulder. "Louise?"

A very pretty woman in scrubs walked over to the reception desk. "Four words for you, Noel. _I'm a nurse now._ That means you can't even pretend to tell me what to do anymore."

"Sorry, Louise. I was just wondering if you'd mind showing Ellen here where to put her coat and bag," said Noel meekly. "She's the new receptionist. Ellen, this is Louise. She's now Staff Nurse Tyler, but she was your last permanent predecessor's last permanent predecessor."

"I'd lay off the long words if I were you, Noel," said Louise. "I wouldn't want you to tie your tongue in knots."

The words were harsh, but for some reason, Elin wasn't worried. She couldn't have said how, but she had a feeling there was a warm friendship between Noel and Louise.

Louise turned to Elin. "Hi. Luckily for Noel, I'm not as busy as he is. Would you like to come this way?"

Elin smiled and followed her. "Um, I'm Elin."

"Yeah. Noel said," said Louise. For a nurse, she didn't sound all that patronising. "So, have you been a receptionist before, Aileen?"

"Um, it's Elin. And I haven't," admitted Elin. "I have a two-year-old. I haven't worked since before she was born."

"Oh, lovely," said Louise without much interest. "You'll get on fine with Noel then. He has the brain of a two-year-old and he probably hasn't done any real work since before any of us were born." She gave Elin a careless smile with a hint of warning. "He's a nice guy though. A _very_ nice guy. So be nice to him and don't ask him too many questions at once or you'll confuse him."

"Okay," said Elin softly. "Thank you, Louise."

"Hey, Louise! Not giving up on nursing again, are you?" said a voice from behind them.

Louise's lips pursed slightly before she replied. "I'm just helping Noel out. This is Aileen, the new receptionist. Aileen, this is Dr Alicia Munroe."

Elin held out her hand. "Hi, Dr Munroe. I'm Elin."

Alicia touched her hand briefly. "Nice to meet you, Ailing. I thought that was supposed to be pronounced Ashling."

"It's Elin," said Elin patiently. "It's the Welsh for Helen."

"Oh, Welsh, right," said Alicia. "Are you going to the pub later, Louise?"

"Try and stop me," said Louise. "I think today will be one of those days."

Alicia threw Elin a smile. "You should come, Ailing. The more the merrier."

"Oh, I, um…"

"If you're into having fun," said Alicia. "Not everyone is."

"I do like having fun," said Elin, "but I have a-"

"Then I'll see you later, won't I?" said Alicia.

* * *

Cal lay down on the sofa and reached for the remote control. He always enjoyed his days off, especially when Ethan was working.

It wasn't the fact he enjoyed knowing Ethan had to work when he didn't (okay, maybe a little bit). It was more that having the day off together generally involved Ethan either being as completely idiotic and as much unlike himself as possible, or Ethan being completely real self: bossy, nagging and trying to cut into Cal's leisure time with requests that Cal do unreasonable things like housework.

Cal definitely preferred naggy Ethan. At least he was _Ethan_. The very poor Cal-imitation always made Cal feel sad and rather guilty.

Cal moved from one channel to another, finally finding a repeat of yesterday's Holby derby, which he was more than happy to watch again considering the final score. He settled back to enjoy it, watching as his favourite player bore down on goal. He had players to his right and left and he was probably aware of that because he was always aware. But the goal was ahead of him and he had the instinct to shoot… the ball rose into the air, looped around the helpless goalkeeper and prepared to nestle in the top corner.

Seconds before it got there, Cal remembered.

He wasn't supposed to be lounging around, watching the football. He had something much more important to do.

* * *

Connie was standing in the nurse's station when Lily arrived. "There you are, Dr Chao," she said, somehow managing to give the (incorrect) impression Lily was late, despite her neutral tone.

"Mrs Beauchamp," said Lily professionally.

"I'd like you to head up Resus today," said Connie. "I was going to do it myself, but I have some admin I really can't put off. Is that all right?"

Lily knew Connie wasn't really asking if it was all right. it was simply a cue for Lily's affirmative answer.

As it happened, Lily had mixed feelings about working in Resus as that was almost certain to mean more contact with Iain, but she didn't consider that a good reason for refusing to do as her job. "Of course, Mrs Beauchamp."

"Good," said Connie, as though she'd expected nothing else. "Mr Strachan is considering a post in the ED and will be observing you today."

Lily's indrawn breath was audible.

Connie's eyebrows shot up. "Problem, Dr Chao?"

"No. No problem," said Lily awkwardly. She wondered why Sam would want to work in the ED when he had a much more important job already, but it wasn't her place to ask. She certainly wasn't going to ask Connie. "Will Mr Strachan be assisting or merely observing?"

"His role will officially be an observatory one, but that's not to say he'll stand aside if another doctor needs assistance," said Connie. "If that is all, Dr Chao?"

Lily nodded. "That's all, Mrs Beauchamp."

"Then now seems an opportune time to go to Resus."

* * *

David addressed Ethan with a hesitancy that made Ethan feel rather sad. He couldn't help thinking that if he hadn't got involved in that ridiculous 'be more Cal' idea, he and David would likely have been friends. David was an extremely competent nurse and he was also very sympathetic and kind: exactly the sort of person Ethan had always tried to be.

But of course, the friendship hadn't happened. It probably never would happen – not now David had seen Ethan at his worst. Often late, even more often hungover… Ethan cringed at the thought and really couldn't understand what he'd been thinking. Yes, he had to take the opportunity to live his life now, before it was too late, but he needed to be doing the things he wanted to do, not the things he thought he ought to want to do.

Ethan smiled at David, trying to show warmth and friendliness; trying to be the real Ethan he hadn't allowed himself to be for so long. He'd thought it would be easy to drop the act and go back to being himself again, but it wasn't easy because it meant making himself more vulnerable and he didn't want to seem vulnerable – especially not when that was exactly how he felt inside.

"Of course I can come and see your patient, David," said Ethan. "I'll be happy to. More than happy. Um, please lead the way."

David looked at Ethan in slight concern but made no comment: he simply turned and led Ethan to the cubicle.

 _Be yourself_ , Ethan told himself sternly as he walked. _Don't be Cal. Be Ethan. Be the new, improved Dr Hardy. Unless I mean the old, improved, Dr Hardy. Or a new improvement on the old one._

But a part of him was afraid he'd changed too much and he'd never be his real self again.

"Hello," said Ethan, smiling at his patient. "I'm Dr Hardy. Um, welcome to the ED." _What? What did I say that for?_ "I mean it's nice to m… I mean, how can I help you?"


End file.
